PhishLI

Cool. Let's see if one of them does something special.

Jackhammers and ProjectZs start up quickly and consistently vibrate during a slow retrieve, even lighter ones. 3/8oz ProjectZ Weedless shown below. I've been catching them lately slow rolled on the bottom ripping them through grass clumps.

Yet another day of crushing heat and humidity was upon us, so I waited until dark to walk my pooch. It was one of those walks where she needed to sniff every single blade of grass she caught a scent on, so it went on and on and on. I was ready to go after we got back home, but made the mistake of plopping down on the couch for a quick minute. When I finally woke up I only had about an hour before a shiny half moon would creep up over the eastern tree line and totally kill the bite. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, so that was going to happen. I booked up to a nearby puddle for a quick wade. They gave my usual stuff the finger, even my trusty black/blue Project Z/Diesel minnow chatter bait. When it was still at its darkest, a 70mm wake and a spook got no love, but I tied on a Shellcracker G2 anyway for a Hail Mary pass hoping its bigger splashes might draw some in. I got what I wanted, then the moon came up and locked them down. I was smarter than usual this time and tap danced on outta there.

I doubt they'll ever say. Does it really matter if it ends up being solid? I have glitch-free Banax and Doyo built reels that are excellent performers. I'm not concerned about whichever builder built it, and there are more than just those two. If it ends up being just fancy looking junk, we'll all find out eventually. The microscopes will be on it. In the meantime, the G7 doesn't look like a half-measures build, but we'll see.

We have several "kayak only" spots on this island, and they're good. We also have places where getting a john boat into is hellish to impossible. A yak is the only viable option in those places. Some are truly treacherous to wade in. There's always a chance that a tough to access place is holding donks, so I do what I gotta do. Even if I don't love humping a yak though the woods to a spot, or I'd rather be on a jon boat, once I'm out I forget about all that and the possibility of dumping. Get some bites or catch some fish, nothing but happy thoughts. Plus it's a great workout.

Oh I have a good follow up, but then I'd get banned.

I had a chance to hit one of the best big bass lakes in our area with my son in law, so even though the brutal sun was high over bluebird skies, and the heat was blistering, we had to give it a go. It's really grown in since I'd been there in the spring, so there were a bunch of juicy spots to pick through. Good thing because the Striker was on the fritz. Couldn't get it working. The water felt like it was 85, and with only 4 hours to zip around 70 acres on an 8ft Sundolphin with a MinnKota 30, we decided to stick to fishing cover. Too bad because I was all set for deep cranking. They were tough to find though. It wasn't until the last 1/2 hour or so after we'd pulled into the last big cove on our way back that we were able to find some action. We didn't see a minnow or get a nibble in the rest of the lake, but this cove was loaded. We knocked off about 10 smalls before we had to go. It's such a beautiful lake, it was great just to be out there. I would've loved to hit that particular cove during the next overnight. I would've anchored on it, but this wasn't in the cards. Too bad because I know the jumbos would've come to eat eventually. Stopped up at a local wading spot on the way home afterward to meet a wading pal, and hoped for an upgrade, but just got a few more scrappers. My wading buddy snagged a gill in its head and got one dinky dink bass. Oh well. Maybe next time. Gotta be in it to win it, and it's always good to hang with the bros.

Good thing for me that I fish in the dark.

The G7 looks tasty. Free floating 10 gram spool. Innovative mag braking system. No foolin' around gear train. Hopefully @T-Billy doesn't faint when he sees this.? https://arkrods.com/collections/gravity-series-casting-reel

Hopefully your reel won't burp up a line-twist hairball with that thicker line. Try to avoid reeling in lighter baits on a slack line. No mono likes that, and thicker lines really don't. If it happens quickly, you may need to drop down. A pike can vaporize 12lb as easily as 8lb. Use your drag wisely and you'll be surprised what you can reel in with 8lb test.

Cool. I still have mine on a light line setup, but have been thinking of sticking it on a short MH with straight braid for pitching jigs into pads. It's so silky that I wouldn't want to change that fishing it heavy duty. I have so many stout reels for that already But if you say it can deal, I'm gonna do it to it.

Status quo on the smoothness front still?

Try this one in Dope Gill on a 6/0 Owner Beast Hook weighted 1/4oz. It really needs a keel weighted hook to run correctly, plus it's tall in the belly, so it needs the Beast 6/0 at a minimum. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Beast_Coast_Miyagi_Swimmer_3pk/descpage-EMS.html I have a good selection of real looking gill swimmers like MattLures, etc. I do far better in my bluegill lakes with the Miyagi than any of those. 1 1/2 lbers will gobble it as well as bigs. They come through most anything cleanly. Very weedless. Weighs an ounce rigged on that hook, so at least solid 5 power rod is super necessary to throw it and send the Beast home. It might work for you. Miyagi shown rigged on the Beast hook on lower right and one up. Berkeley Champ Swimmers shown above it.

That's for sure. My Catalina 100 holds more line than a Curado K 200. With its 38mm tall spool and its very small arbor, the 200 holds a stupid amount of line.

I've never even seen a Musky in person, so I don't know squat about fishing for them, but in what situation would you need 450 feet of line? Honest question.

I did this as a kid instinctively as a panic reaction, but with my free hand. It was the only way to keep my lures out of the lily pads when I was trying to hit the edges. Fear of losing them when spooled with 6lb Stren is motivating. It's still my habit now. I've tried the reel-hand forefinger method, but it feels unnatural to me at this point. Same results anyway. It works.

Feeding fish are often keyed in on a size and profile. Sometimes they'll bite anything, but when they're keyed in you need to give them want they want, not what you'd like them to eat or think they should be eating. I have that Savage Gear gill in 4" inch, and threw it the past two nights in a gill filled lake. Not a sniff regardless of how I changed retrieves. Tied on a chatterbait and caught every fish in the same zone I threw the gill. Tomorrow it might be the opposite. The fish will let you know.

There's more than one way to skin a cat. If you make different fishing buddies over time you'll see it more and more. You can choose to emulate someone, if that suits you, or you can do your own thing. Sharpening your instincts over time is what's going to make you better over time. It takes time, through failure and success, to download and collate the data you accumulate. Once you figure out how to crack the code of a body of water, things will change and change fast. Just understand that you'll continue to get your azz kicked, because that's how it goes, but bass fishing is a long-game. Doesn't matter who you are either. Jason Christie won the Bassmaster Classic this year. He came in just about dead last in the next tournament. A short memory is a good thing to have. Just dust yourself off and grind. In the meantime concentrate on what happens when everything goes right as well as when everything goes wrong, and use your noggin. Read up here at BR, be willing to put in the work, and you'll get your wins.

Uncle Giacomo (Jack) He smoked those Pall Malls down to a roach. Took me out flounder fishing in the bay on my 12th birthday. Launched at the Great River Road ramp. I did something or other to aggravate him while he was dropping the boat in, so he called me a stupid mick. I'm half and half, so I popped off and told him: "I thought I was a dumb guinea". I can still see the instant fury in his face. He took a swing at me, but I ducked and ran. Caught some good fish later that day.

I've had the 6'6" and 7'0" MF rods for 5 years. Light and tough. Zero issues. Got some great fish on them. Great deals on them right now as the new versions have been announced.

WoW. You knew my uncle Jack. Small world.

The body is sort of close in color to this Secret Lures Stupid Tube. Hat tip to @GRiver. Dye the tentacles chartreuse and you'll get close. The color is Shad BG Purple 23, ST-37-23. It washes out quickly to what's shown in the pics below.

Try these and you'll become a hook changing machine. So easy, it's almost fun. Works great for adding or removing car keys too.

Last Wednesday's full moon

It's been blazing hot here with very little rain. Water levels are very low, and in these shallow puddles here that's never good. Saturday afternoon we got blitzed with heavy rain for about an hour, so that was welcome even if it did nothing to quell the humidity. However, hard rain usually screws up the fishing here for at least a few days. I imagine the fast influx of lawn pesticides and fertilizer from nearby residences ringing these lakes have some negative short-term effect. Add in the heavy road salts used during this past winter and that can't help either. Whatever the reason actually is, heavy rain usually kills the bite here. But with heavy cloud cover and a waning full moon, what does a boy have to lose? As usual this type of weather pushes everything way offshore where there's a bit more depth, and that's a problem in a no-boats lake. The shallows get so hot, and the algae chokes them off, so I brought my longest rods to get baits way out there. I worked short first anyway, just in case, but it was dead water as expected. Chucked a 6" BPS Stick-O in Sungill as far as possible towards deeper water until I felt a good number of bluegills pecking at it, then decided to camp on that spot. Switched over to big wakes, but nothing doing. Nothing on slow sink glides. Nothing on a heavy swim jig. Nothing on slow rolled soft swim baits either. Tied on a Project Z weedless chatter bait/diesel minnow, slung it as far as I could, snapped it through a weed clump, and got hit instantly. I finally felt like I'd found the zone, but then the rain came in again. I was already soaked through with sweat from being in my chest waders in this heat and humidity, so getting wetter wasn't an issue. Started with a dink, but upgraded to a solid 4+ chunk that went nuts and stayed nuts trying to unhook the choked chatter bait, and to get a lock on the scale. Quickly followed up with a spawned out but really charged up 5-7. Both bass hit hard at the end of my longest casts, then fought like crazy for every inch. It was awesome. For a moment there, with stars in my eyes, I thought I was on a new PB with the bigger fish. It dug so hard, but not this time. Who hasn't been there? Just like the previous fish, this one choked the bait. I had my entire XL fist inside its mouth in order to remove it, but no blood with either thankfully. After an extended-release period, I thanked them kindly, then both swam off strongly back towards the deep. I was the only idiot out there in the middle of the night fishing in the rain with lightning projected in the forecast, but I had a quick 2 hour blast, and I didn't get electrocuted. Good stuff.